One of the primary social motivations for scientific research is the ability to make better decisions based on the results. But whether it is deciding what material to use in making a solar panel, what antibiotic to use on ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- Exercise is a magic drug for many people with depression and anxiety disorders, according to researchers who analyzed numerous studies, and it should be more widely prescribed by mental health ...

Relationships are difficult and most of us probably think at some point that communicating positively with our partner when discussing stressful issues, like home finances, is an impossible task. What if there was a safe ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the latest issue of Science, researchers from the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Switzerland, show how a class of proteins surrounding nerve cells allows fear memories to persis ...

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in a growing number of soldiers evacuated to the United States for comprehensive care for physical and psychological trauma. Given the number of physical injuries often experienced ...

Depression is one of the most common forms of psychiatric disorder. It can occur at any time of life and it may affect children and adolescents as well as the elderly. However, depression can usually be suitably managed with ...

There is a great deal of interest in factors that contribute to the vulnerability to developing post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. One factor that appears to contribute to the heritable vulnerability to PTSD is a variation ...

Americans' danger detectors are cranked up way too high these days, but we don't have to be held hostage by our anxiety, according to a new book on coping with stress by a Northwestern Medicine psychologist.

In what is believed to be the first U.S. study designed to prevent anxiety disorders in the children of anxious parents, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center have found that a family-based program reduced symptoms ...

A new study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has found that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy--using meditationprovides equivalent protection against depressive relapse as traditional antidepressant ...

We know that the state of the mind has a lot to do with how healthy the body is. An interesting study published this month in the Annals of Internal Medicine demonstrates the mind-body connection yet again - this time ...

Cognitive behavioral therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (or cognitive behavior therapy, CBT) is a psychotherapeutic approach that aims to influence dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure. CBT can be seen as an umbrella term for a number of psychological techniques that share a theoretical basis in behavioristic learning theory and cognitive psychology.

There is empirical evidence that CBT is effective for the treatment of a variety of problems, including mood, anxiety, personality, eating, substance abuse, and psychotic disorders. Treatment is often brief, and time-limited. CBT is used in individual therapy as well as group settings, and the techniques are often adapted for self-help applications. Some CBT therapies are more orientated towards predominantly cognitive interventions, while others are more behaviorally orientated.

In recent years, cognitive behavioral approaches have become widespread in correctional settings. These programs are designed to teach offenders cognitive skills that may reduce criminal behaviors. In many countries, it has become commonplace to find cognitive behavioral program strategies in use in prisons and jails. In cognitive orientated therapies, the objective is typically to identify and monitor thoughts, assumptions, beliefs and behaviors that accompany and are related to negative emotions, and to identify those which are dysfunctional, inaccurate, or unhelpful. The aim is to replace or transcend them with those which are more realistic and useful.

CBT was primarily developed through a merging of behavior therapy with cognitive therapy. While rooted in rather different theories, these two traditions found common ground in focusing on the "here and now", and on alleviating symptoms. Many CBT treatment programs for specific disorders have been evaluated for efficacy and effectiveness; the health-care trend of evidence-based treatment, where specific treatments for symptom-based diagnoses are recommended, has favored CBT over other approaches such as psychodynamic treatments. In the United Kingdom, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommends CBT as the treatment of choice for a number of mental health difficulties, including post-traumatic stress disorder, OCD, bulimia nervosa and clinical depression.